The Toscana Pride started from Porta Romana around 5 pm. Thousands brave the torrid heat to parade in the Oltrarno and then up to the Cascine.
“Tuscany Pride 2023 is dedicated to the “InTRANSigent Bodies” of lesbian, gay, bisexual and bi+, trans*, queer, intersex and asexual people, which is held today 8 July in Florence, seven years after the first Toscana Pride in the capital” , reports Toscana Pride, which organized the event.
“We return to the streets, at a time when our community is under attack. Trans * people and homoparental families are targeted by this government, plus our requests are systematically ignored. Italy is the European country with the highest number of victims of transphobia and according to the latest report by ILGA-Europe, 2022 was the most violent year for the LGBTQIA+ community* and this violence took the form of speeches of hatred uttered by politicians and the media. All of this is unacceptable and we take to the streets so as not to remain indifferent and respond to the culture of hate with love and struggle,” said Vincent Vallon, spokesman for Toscana Pride.
The “political document”
“If civil society has grown increasingly aware of LGBTQIA+ issues in the last seven years, little or nothing has moved in national politics, indeed our community is increasingly under attack by the institutions and by the current government. We note with anger that our community in Italy is not yet recognized full dignity, respect and recognition.Political forces fill the public debate with hatred proving to be completely alien and inadequate to respond to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community, and together with ultra-conservative movements , promoters of the so-called “anti-gender” propaganda so steeped in falsehoods and deliberate distortions of reality, continue to exploit women and minors especially with the aim of attacking trans* people and same-parent families. For these reasons we demand adequate laws, protections and rights to the needs of every individual that guarantee the full well-being of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, intersex and asexual people”, asks Toscana Pride.
The numbers
Toscana Pride was born from a political process undertaken in 2016 by a large network of Tuscan associations that today make up the organizing committee: AGEDO Toscana, Arcigay Firenze “Altre Sponde”, Arcigay Livorno, Arcigay Arezzo “Chimera Arcobaleno”, Azione Gay and Lesbian (Florence), Carrodibuoi Asexual Collective, Coming Out LGBT Valdinievole and Leather Zone, Transgenre Consultory (Torre del Lago), Rainbow Families (Tuscany), IREOS Self-Managed Queer Community (Florence), L’Asterisc* Arcigay Prato-Pistoia, “ Pansexual Movement” Arcigay Siena, Pinkriot Arcigay Pisa, Polis Aperta and Rainbow Parents Network.
To date, over 90 sponsorships have arrived from Municipalities, Provinces, the Tuscany Region but also professional bodies (Social Assistants, Psychologists, Lawyers, Physiotherapists and Doctors), the University for Foreigners of Siena and the Scuola Superiore Normale of Pisa. There are over 150 members of associations, parties and other realities.
The main supporters of the event are: SPI CGIL, the Tuscan ARCI, Uisp Toscana but there are also small businesses such as The Social Hub, Fabrik, The Goldfish Tattoo, Verderame restaurant, Proforma social enterprise, Intio-Cocohome, Il Libraccio and Viva Mexico Travel.
Criticisms instead from parts of the right, such as the councilors Cellai (Fdi) and Asciuti (Italexit).
Cellai (FdI): “Patronage and Gonfalone forcing that weakens the institutions”
“Up until a few years ago, Mayor Nardella did not grant patronage or banners to these events. Evidently he changed his mind and this is as legitimate as it is questionable. But the point is another. It is the clumsy attempt to get the message across we all agree with the political claims of Pride. And this is not the reality. You cannot use the symbol of the city that is administered according to where the wind is blowing in your party”, the words of the city councilor and city coordinator by Brothers of Italy Jacopo Cellai.
When Florence, a few years ago, denied patronage to Pride
Asciuti (Italexit): “Not in my name, not in the name of all citizens”
Words that will also make those of Andrea Asciuti, ex Lega and now Italexit, discuss. “For the regional Gay Pride in Florence – declares Asciuti -, we witness the usual show: the kneeling of entrepreneurs, multinationals, artists, the most varied institutions. It is objectively the most protected and most pampered category, that of the people who they define themselves as ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and bi+, trans, queer, intersex and asexual’. The list of their supporters is endless, but they present themselves as the most discriminated category; they have the unconditional support of the mass media and, with a few exceptions, the Centre-Right proves to be a faded photocopy of the Left. But I say ‘not in my name’ the patronage of Gay Pride. It offends all those citizens who have a position contrary to homosexualist and gender ideology”.